Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Israeli-Hamas 4-Day Ceasefire in Effect
The awful war that has consumed Israel and Gaza and has drawn global condemnation has been suspended for the last few hours as a cease-fire went into effect. The purpose of the pause in murder is to allow hostages to be exchanged and some supplies to enter Gaza. After about 96 hours of this, the rockets and bullets will fly again. There is a mechanism that would extend the cease-fire, but one does not expect it to work for more than a day or two. The desire to continue fighting on both sides is still overwhelming. Hamas feels it score a massive success and wants more. The Israelis are still after revenge that will require a higher body count.
At a basic humanitarian level, there is nothing but good here. For a few days, no one is going to directly kill anyone else. Some hostages will go free and back to their families. For those stuck in the open-air prison that is Gaza, fuel and food coming in can only help keep people alive. But a pause in the killing is merely freezing the status quo for a while. It does not mean the end is in sight. The end of the beginning is probably not even visible from here.
Moving to a geostrategic level, nothing has changed since the Israelis began their attack in Gaza, their response to the terrorist attacks of October 7. War, or similar international violence, is a mechanism for conflict resolution. It is based on the premist that might makes right, or at least is supplants right. It is hardly ideal, but it has been part of human politics from the very beginning. This war has not resolved anything yet, so the violence is going to return in a few days.
There has been some agreement that, if the ceasefire continues beyond the 4-day limit, more hostages could be freed. One report says every day beyond four will result in 10 hostages being freed. There are something like 250 hostages remaining, which means 25 more days is as long as the ceasefire could hold without new developments.
There is certainly a chance that some new fact will emerge as the pause continues, and there is a chance that something more permanent could follow. That is not how the smart money is betting, however. Hamas remains dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The Likud government in Israel has the backing of most of the country in working to root Hamas out entirely. Neither side has much of an interest in what might be described as an end to the war. That may shock some, but it remains the case.
Each side believes that the other started the conflict, and it is a case of choosing which date is critical. Both sides want the world to believe they were there first. The Palestinians claim to have been there since the days of the Prophet Mohammed. The Israelis claim Moses led them to the land they now hold. The effort to prove which side got to the "Holy Land" first is pointless. The Jews go back around 6000 years, and the Arabs are first mentioned in Sumerian records in 3000 BC. Yet the first people there are known to archeologists as the Natufian culture, going back to at least 11,500 BC. It is entirely plausible that neither side is descented from this group, or both are.
The only way forward is for one side or both to decide to end it. Someone is going to have to simply stop, to turn the other cheek as one local preacher would have it. History, justice and other bases for claims must go out the window and the two sides must address the facts as they exist in 2023, not 1948, or 70 AD or whenever Abraham was alleged to have lived. Peace means abandoning the wars of previous generations. Neither side appears interested in anything other than more fighting.
One would give anything to be proved wrong.
© Copyright 2023 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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